Exploring hazing experiences and perceived physical and mental health outcomes in the United States military through a cross-sectional study

Background : Hazing – defined as an act that is required to gain entry into a group and humiliates, degrades, abuses, endangers, or otherwise embarrasses an individual, irrespective of willingness of the person – is a pervasive problem in the United States (US) military, and can manifest in physical and emotional harm, and in extreme circumstances, death. However, the presentation of hazing, including the experiences experienced and resulting outcomes is scarcely studied, leaving a gap in understanding and a need to specifically investigate this issue. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by administering a survey with questions about hazing experiences and outcomes to 227 service members at a military installation in the Southeast United States over 14 months. Frequency of hazing experiences and outcomes were derived. To understand how the large number of variables related to each other, a cluster analysis provided Jaccard measures of similarities amongst experience variables. Logistic regressions were conducted to test the association between the experiences and outcomes of hazing. Results : A total of 227 service members answered the survey; the final cleaned sample resulted in 202 participants who were primarily active duty (94.0%), in the Army (95.6%), enlisted rank (E1-E4; 58.5%), male (69.6%), and white (49.4%). Almost one-fifth (19.8%) of the 202 participants endorsed experiencing hazing at the installation and over a fifth endorsed experiencing hazing in the form of sexual violence (22.4%), being tricked (27.8%), and acting like a servant (22.3%). Hazing experiences were significantly associated (p <0.05) with greater odds several types of negative physical (ORs ranging from 2.8-15.9) and mental health outcomes (ORs ranging from 4.7-68.0) and multiple effects on the organization, such as desire to leave the military (ORs ranging from 2.9-34.1). Conclusions : Hazing manifests in various manners and results in harmful consequences for both individuals and the organization. The present study provides an understanding of hazing through descriptive epidemiology, which can help both leaders and practitioners to effectively design, customize, and implement programs to address the issue.